The Sama

Otherwise, I noticed that Eidetic/Photographic Memory is not included in this latest writeup. Are we dropping that from the Sama entirely? Perhaps if we are going to make Small a flaw that must be taken, we can include this ability back in as somewhat of a counterbalance.

I, personally, see the Eidetic Memory (I wouldnt use “Photographic” unless we find out some Altherian invented cameras) as something leaning more towards adult Sama. But, I am not strongly opposed to it. (Trying to think of what else we have in the game that does something similar).

As a matter of balance, most races get 2 skills and 2 talents. (maybe +/- 1 depending on other special abilities/limitations). So, that is what I gave the Sama the required Flaw and denial to Divine casting to counteract the Alien Mind, Empathy bonus, and resistance to shove/knock down.

I have no personal preference on Small, other than it has a Sama starting with 3 Flaws (if they want a bonus Talent). I guess story-wise, can there be exceptionally strong Sama? (Since Small limits you to a d8 Might Attribute Die). I originally thought if we go that route, they should get a compensatory Talent, but that would mean that a starting Sama would have 6 Talents, not counting ones from Archetype/Background. Most characters have 5. (Not necessarily a deal breaker, just something to consider.)

I don’t see any issue with including Eidetic Memory as one of the options for a Racial Talent. Not everyone will take it given the other options.

With a sweep of his…

Hat

The discussion ends when someone like Henry (or Pedro, or Eric, etc) either say it’s done, or the rules are published

Hi all,

Matt & I went through all the forum posts and took everyones various input and suggestions. This is what we came up with for the Sama based on that:

Sama

Sama Racial Traits
Attributes: Logic/Vigor
Skills: Perception and either one Lore skill or Ranged (Thrown)
Talents: Any 1 Racial Talent and any 1 Skill Talent
All Sama gain a bonus equal to their passive Vigor to resist being Shoved or Knocked Prone.
Sama receive +1 to their Avoidance Defense.
Other races find Insectoid creatures difficult to read, thus Sama gain a +2 to their Discipline Defence against Empathy:Read Someone and Empathy Discern Intentions Action Skill Rolls
All Sama gain the Alien Mind Quality
Sama may not be Divine Casters or posses Devout Talents
Automatic Languages: Sama(?) and either Low Coryani or Low Khitani
Special: All Sama must choose one of the following Flaws: Weak Willed, Bloodthirsty, Addicted, Impatient or Contrarian. They do not receive a bonus Talent for this Flaw.

Special Note: In Step 8 of Character Creation, Sama are able to choose “Small Flaw” from Bestiary, Volume 1 (pg 39).

Sama Racial Talents

Double Jointed [Racial, Skill]
You are able to arrange your limbs in a way that you can fit into extremely tight spaces.
Requirement: Sama; OR Acrobatics and 3 Ranks in Athletics
Benefit: When in a space smaller than is typically necessary of a creature of your size type, you may treat your size to be one size catgory smaller. For example, you will no longer grant Tactical Edge, and you can now enter areas two size categories smaller than yourself.

Serrated Mandibles [Racial]
You have developed powerful mandibles, giving you an effective bite attack.
Requirements:Sama or other insectoid Race
Benefit: You gain an unarmed bite attack (Speed 3, d4 (Mi), which may be used in a grapple. Your bite can produce either piercing or slashing damage. If used to slash, your mandibles possess the Serrated quality. (A serrated weapon grants the wielder a +1 bonus to Intimidate Action Skill Rolls if the weapon is openly displayed. A serrated weapon inflicts more damage that a normal weapon of the same type, but has a tendency to snag on bone and armor. As a consequence, all serrated weapons inflict +1 damage with a successful attack, but suffer an additional +1 Recovery to all melee Martial Techniques used with that weapon.)

Faceted Eyes [Racial]
You have a highly evolved set of multi-faceted eyes that let you perceive things in ways that are impossible to other Races
Requirements: Sama or other insectoid races
Benefit: By Tier:
Tier 1: You may see perfectly in non-magical darkness out to a range of 30′. You also see double normal distances under a night sky.
Tier 2: You have become adept at perceiving and reacting to movement. As long as you are not Blinded or in magical Darkness, others do not gain Tactical Edge for flanking you.
Tier 3: You may now see the heat patterns of other living things. As such, you may see heat patterns through both magical and non-magical darkness and other vision impairing effects (such as a heavy fog). You may now use the Tier 2 level of this Talent in magical Darkness.

Eidetic Memory [Racial, Skill]
You have the ability to memorize exact details of things that you have seen, and can recall that knowledge with little effort.
Requirement: Sama OR Logic 7
Benefit: You gain a bonus equal to your Hero Tier to all Knowledge: Recall Facts Action Skill Rolls made to remember things that you have seen or read. For example, you can use this ability to recall information from a scene or from a book, but not what was spoken to you. The effects of this talent stacks with Eclectic Knowledge talent and Encyclopedic Memory

Hopefully, we can put closure on this one.

Best,

Joe

Hi Henry,

Being small grants the following benefits / hindrances:

Defenses: +1 Avoidance, -1 Fortitude
Stamina: -5,
Additional Flaws: Small.

The small flaw grants the following: Due to the creature’s small frame, they may never
have an unmodified Might greater than d8. If the creature’s
base die is greater than d8, utilize a d8 for all Might
Action Skill Rolls.

The question is…do we want to add an additional benefit to the Sama in order to offset the the hindrance of being small? I am fine either way. I believe the Sama are interesting enough that people will still be interested in playing them.

I still think the “social” flaws need to remain. I just think we need a mechanical representationn of their volatile nature.

I am fine with making them Small as well, just that realize that people should realize that they will not have standard medium-sized weapons. (For the same reason I wrote the Agamassi as medium..so they did not get a weapon die bump from large weapons.)

Personally, I think they should be small. And I wouldn’t advocate granting them anything to offset that. I fully expect that there will be two kinds of players who play a sama… Those who are just out to play something, “different.” And those who are looking to maximize their benefits. And as a result I think that a large percentage of sama in the campaign will be Arcane; thus playing to the small race’s benefits.

My $.02
Scott

The last time Henry and I spoke, he mentioned that he wanted them to get the plus one to avoidance due to their small size. I believe this was supposed to be in addition to any other defense modifiers (fortitude).